Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

1915 reviews

elishabird's review against another edition

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War

persephone__'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

notsamwilson's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

No book has ever made such an impact on my brain chemistry as this one has. Sure it was a slow start, but it turned into a cascade of very descriptive and unimaginable things. I cannot fathom, even though I read it, what these characters went through. I cannot fathom the suffering any of them had to endure. And I cannot bring myself to hate them for the decisions they made. This book is such a great window into how situations can break a person. It is a window into how holding onto trauma can influence decisions. I am anxious to finish the series because I struggled getting through one particular part of the book. But I know the next two will be just as altering to my brain chemistry as this. I truly believe this series will be a favorite of mine for quite a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Torture, Excrement, Colonisation, and Classism

cj_david's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

fckastel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

First of all, really well written and loved the first half but after that quickly realized it’s not for me because I wasn’t really rooting for the main character once I realized where it was heading. I didn’t really feel the connections with supporting characters either though I wanted more of the existing connections to lead somewhere (maybe it does in the next few books but I don’t see how it can get better after where it ended). I did find the ties to real historical events interesting though I had read about the history of the war before and it was just as gruesome as I remember and the „justice“ at the end was purposefully not satisfying. Just too dark for me but again, really well written and I had trouble putting it down in between.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Murder, and War

haskapberries's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The fire doesn’t give, the fire takes, and takes, and takes.

harrowing, devastating and beautiful portrait of a complex and traumatized girl. at times funny!! Didn’t shy away from the bleak and dark parts of war. 

I’d say the best part of the book was somewhere around the middle. Near the end, it felt like I was being overly spoonfed the point it was trying to make, (I.e. “war bad”, “racism bad” which like yes of course) and it became so graphic that I felt nauseous. Not for the weak stomachs. 

Although I will say that

nezha stabbing that soldier and saving rin

moment had me giddy, kicking and screaming like a little girl, which is always what you want in a book. Or at least what I want. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

pmaan0613's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

maddiiec's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Honestly… it was fine. I liked the beginning a lot, I love a strong FMC, a boarding school/training arc, and the magic system is unique and thoughtful - more than just “hooray! you have magic!”. I like magic systems with balance and consequences to the magic. 

The amount of suffering and trigger warnings in this book was a little much (see content warning list below) - although I know that it’s the point of the book and important to the world and characters. 

RF Kuang has made strides in her prose and writing since The Poppy War (I adore Babel). I’m going to finish this series but I don’t think I would reach for this book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

lolooooooooo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book was all fun and games in the beginning then it got real serious real fast.When Rin was studying for the exam and dripping hot wax on herself I thought that’s a bit intense but no biggie ,then when the war started and her friends began dying I realized that this book was very much serious ,at times I wished rin would listen to her master more but of course for character development she didn’t 😭.When she was walking through the massacred city the descriptions were uncomfortably detailed.I can’t believe that Nezha died I was pretty sad .When she destroyed the federation  I was in  shock I didn’t think she would actually do it ,and now she has lost all her friends(well most of them)and ist addicted to opium and has a huge need for vengeance things can only go downhill from here .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, and War

lalastitch's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I was really into it at the beginning, and I found her hardheadedness intriguing and how dedicated she was to being the best. However by the end of the book it just felt like all of the things I liked about her in the beginning were gone. It also felt like a lot of the character connections happened during the time skips in the book, which there were a lot of nothing happening until the time skips. For example, her falling in love with Altan didn't make sense because from what we read there was literally nothing that happened between them for her to feel so strongly for him other than admiration. It all just felt very shallow reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Very intense trigger warnings. The second half of the book gets really intense, so read with care